Sound Design for a Bustling San Francisco Restaurant

In the world of fine dining, the importance of ambience cannot be overestimated. From lighting decisions to employee uniforms, every sensory detail a restaurant offers contributes to the patron’s experience. No bit player on this ineffable stage is the noise level. It can be a hard balance to strike: too raucous, and conversation suffers; too quiet, and the mood stiffens.

It’s a dilemma with which Bill Russell-Shapiro is familiar. As the proprietor of The Absinthe Group, the parent company of six eateries and bars in San Francisco, he was well-versed in the dynamics of sound and atmosphere. For his latest enterprise, the Spanish restaurant Bellota, he installed a Meyer Sound Constellation acoustic system to balance the sonic elements of a busy scene: the clink of glasses, the rattle of a cocktail shaker, bursts of laughter. A system of minuscule microphones, loudspeakers, subwoofers, and processors take in and harmonize noise. As clientele ebbs and flows, the staff can quickly adjust the acoustics.

Bar director of The Absinthe Group Jonny Raglin oversaw the Bellota project. "Constellation is a flexible system that creates balance," he says. "It allows us to create different atmospheres at different times. We’re able to make it romantic and quiet in a certain portion of the space, and lively in another part of the space at the same time."

This level of control was especially crucial for a business that occupies a 5,400-square-foot warehouse space in San Francisco’s SoMa district. The open floor plan affords diners a view of executive chef Ryan Mcllwraith and his team as they deliver a menu specializing in paella, grilled meats, and tapas.

Bellota joins five other restaurants scattered throughout Berkeley, Oakland, and San Francisco that rely on Constellation for aural logistics. Meyer Sound is itself headquartered in Berkeley, where all of its products are designed and manufactured. Founded in 1979 by John and Helen Meyer, the award-winning company boasts an impressive resume with installations placed in Musikverein in Vienna, Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York, Bank of America Stadium, Jyske Bank’s corporate offices in Denmark, and Cirque du Soleil’s Las Vegas productions. Renowned musicians, cinemas, houses of worship, theme parks, and museums also look to Meyer Sound solutions.

To learn more about the Constellation system, visit Meyer Sound online.